Time is running out; Act govt act!

Hyderabad: It may be a pastime for the players of the power game; it may be just a phase in the billion years old history of Bharat for touch-me-not kind intellectuals or it may be a kind of self-blaming like "my bad luck " for a blissfully ignorant man on the street, but the consequences of such attitude to the dangerous situation like one has been engulfed today will be certainly disastrous. The sudden increase in the incidents of vandalism and murderous attacks on Hindus and their deities by Jihadi elements followed by forceful retaliation by the Hindu groups is indeed a matter of grave concern.

One should not have any hesitation in putting the entire blame on the governments of the day who have been fully empowered through electoral process to ensure compliance of the constitution, prime-most being the fundamental rights, but hopelessly failed. The game of passing the buck by the Centre to the State governments under the spacious plea that the subject of maintenance of law and order rests with the States, is nothing but the cunningly devised weapon to shirk its responsibility. The Centre under the constitution is "all powerful" to tackle with any situation. Therefore, it is high time that the political blame game is replaced with the sense of responsibility by both players.

Today, going by the sudden spurt in communal violence, we should not shy away in admitting that the Hindu and Muslim communities have actually fully polarised on religion lines. The yesteryears' hypocrisy of "Hindu -Muslim Bhai Bhai" has been fully exposed. Both sides, without mincing words, are vociferously campaigning for their avowed goals. There is no gain saying that the matter still can be resolved amicably by impassioned deliberations. That stage has gone several decades ago. In fact, people, fade up with the duplicity of their elected leaders are now determined to achieve what their political leaders did not till today for whatever reasons.

The taking out of Hindu unity yatra by the Union Minister Giriraj Singh and Hyderabad 's firebrand BJP MLA, T Raja Singh' s formation of Ram Sena and his loud and clear demand for the Hindu Rashtra despite the BJP distancing the same, speak volumes for the popular demand for the Hindu Rashtra. People committed to the RSS and actively working for it too, have read the writing on the wall though its leadership is still searching for some face-saving reasons to take a kinetic jump in support of the demand for the Hindu Rashtra.

On the other hand, hard liners in the Muslim community are also equally busy in devising the combat plans. In such a scenario the face-off is a certainty. How soon it will is a matter of days or a few months. In short, we are likely to plunge into the second war of independence in a near future. And the enemy will be from within. The hitherto external enemies, such as Pakistan now including Bangladesh and China, may take undue advantage of the civil war-like situation and pose a threat to the sovereignty of the country!

Hope the powers that be will act swiftly and effectively and crush any kind of violence under iron shoes and instil confidence among people that there does exist a government which is determined to protect their life and property.

SC UPHOLDS SECTION 6-A OF CITIZENSHIP ACT

A five-judge constitution bench of the Supreme Court on October 17 held that Section 6-A of the Citizenship Act, 2024, is in sync with the construction as it strikes balance between humanitarian considerations and protects the intents of the local people.

The bench, comprising Chief Justice of India Dr D Y Chandrachud, Justices Surya Kant, J B Pardiwala, M M Sundresh and Manoj Mishra by a majority of 4:1 held Section 6-A of the Act constitutionally valid and disposed of a batch of writ petitions in a case titled, Re: Section 6-A, Citizenship Act, 2024. Justice J B Pardiwala dissented from the majority view.

The section 6-A provides for three types of situations, namely, all persons who were there in Assam before January 1, 1966, are citizens of India, all persons who entered Assam from January 1, 1966 to March 25, 1971, are entitled to seek citizenship subject to meeting the criteria for the grant of citizenship; and all persons who entered Assam after March 25, 1971, are to be considered as illegal migrants. The bench directed the Central government to identify, investigate and deport such illegal migrants.

MP HC IMPOSES NOVEL BAIL CONDITIONS

On October 15, while granting regular bail under Section 439, CrPC to an accused who is facing charges of insulting the national flag, Justice Dinesh Kumar Paliwal imposed some 'novel' conditions, adding non -compliance of which will automatically result in the cancellation of the bail.

One habitual offender, Afzal, who has been involved in 13 prior offences, was granted the conditional bail. The conditions include furnishing a personal bond for Rs.50,000 with one solvent surety of the same amount, regular personal appearance before the trial court, marking personal attendance at the concerned police station on 1st and 4th Tuesday every month from 10 am to 12 noon till the conclusion of trial, saluting the national flag 21 times and shouting the slogan "Bharat Mata Ki Jay" each time at the police station. The authorities were directed to ensure strict compliance of these conditions. The court made it clear that if the accused jumps bail or violates any condition the bail will be forfeited.

JAIL FOR LIFE FOR LOVE - JIHAD

Additional District and Sessions Judge, Fast Track Court at Bareilly(UP) Ravi Kumar Diwakar sentenced one, Mohd. Ali Ahmed, to life imprisonment for the deceptive conversion of a non-Muslim woman to Islam through fraudulent marriage. The accused had deliberately concealed his religion and gave himself a Hindu name, Anand Kumar, and married her. After marriage, he revealed his true colours and began harassing her for converting to Islam.

The judge explained the purpose of love jihad in the judgment stating , "The primary aim of 'love jihad ' is to alter demographics and stir international tensions, driven by radical factions within a religious group."

TG-HC ON PRODUCTION OF ACCUSED BEFORE A MAGISTRATE

A division bench of Justices P Sam Koshy and N Tukaram in a recent judgment held that the 24-hour time limit for production of an accused before a magistrate not to be calculated from the official arrest time, but when the accused was apprehended or taken into custody.

The bench also added that any arrest not conforming to this time frame is violative of the fundamental rights of the accused.